Effectiveness of Chest Physical Therapy in Improving Quality of Life and Reducing Patient Hospital Stay in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Objective:To find out the effectiveness of chest physical therapy along with standard medical treatment versus standard medical treatment alone in improving quality of life and reducing patient's hospital stay in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients. Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted in a tertiary care hospital of Peshawar, from September 2016 to February 2017. Thirty COPD patients were included in the study. All patients were randomized into control group and experimental group. The experimental group received chest physical therapy along with standard medical treatment while control group received standard medical treatment alone. Results: The mean age of the participants was 54.2±7.2 years. Both groups were similar with respect to age (p-value 0.432) and gender distribution (p-value 0.464). At baseline mean Saint George's respiratory questionnaire (SGRQ) score was 38.1±7.3 for control group while 37.9±9.2 for experimental group (pvalue 0.947). The post-treatment mean SGRQ score was 34.6±6.5 for control group while 28.1±8.7 for experimental group with p-value 0.028. The mean hospital stay of control group was 9.26±1.43 days while mean hospital stay of experimental group was 8.20±1.47 days (p-value 0.055). Conclusion: Chest physical therapy combined with standard medical treatment has considerable effect on improving functional status and quality of life of COPD patients. Yet the effect of chest physical therapy in reducing hospital stay in COPD patients is insignificant.